Thursday's Dream Schemes/ Wedding Invitation with Stenciled Flowers

Last year at about this time we were handcrafting wedding invitations. Chrissy & Stan are children of very good friends. Stan's sister, Heidi, worked for me for several years and was the designer of these gorgeous invitations. The invite that you see here was done on a 65 pound "felt textured" off-white cardstock. We printed them first and then paste-embossed this serendipity floral stencil (LG709) with what we refer to as the "regular" embossing paste (DEP). It was the first paste that we ever manufactured and has a matte appearance, but we have always referred to it as the "regular" paste. We just simply let it dry and felt that the simplicity of the design created the elegance for which we were aiming. Clean and Simple...right?

The picture insert was also done with the same floral stencil (LG709) and the same "regular" paste (DEP). However this time once it was dry we stenciled them with pigment inks. Once they were stenciled Heidi and Stan slit the dark brown cardstock around a small portion of the flower and slipped the photo into place. This colorful picture of Stan & Chrissy was a beautiful gift to add to the invitation set. The card has another piece backed onto this to give it a little extra "weight" and it created a clean back to the photo as well.

Then on the outside of the invitation Heidi applied a teal colored strip of cardstock and another one of the same flowers on top to seal the invitation closed. This flower was also paste-embossed and then stenciled with pigment ink as well, next we cut them out by hand and glued them onto the outside of the envelope. The return address and mailing address are on the other side of this handcrafted envelope. Each one of these cards were about 5/1/2" x 8 1/2" and the envelope was made from a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock. Because Heidi wanted a specific color for the cardstock and couldn't find it, she sprayed the cardstock with Memories Mists sprays. It really added to the country flavor they were trying to achieve for the wedding. 


Thank you for being a part of our April Challenge this month, we have another week and a half and then on May 1st I will reveal our monthly winners. Remember #1 winner for best interpretation of the challenge and #2 winner for best usage of Dreamweaver Stencils and products. Link up to mr. linky below, you still have a few more days. Tomorrow I will be traveling so if you are emailing me an entry it may take another day or two to get it posted. Hope to hear from you soon...lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com 


Also, be sure to hop to see the creations of the rest of the Dream it Up! team's blogs by following the links below:

Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Jessie Hurley

Thursday's Dream Schemes/ April Showers Bring May Flowers and Weddings

Ahhh...I have to admit I have been relaxing the past few days after the frenzy of blog hopping last week. LOL!!! So we are back in the saddle again, though. 


Today I've "CASE"d a card which design team member Wendy Jordan created a couple of weeks ago. Instead of a die cut in the background I used a frame stencil...in fact I have used two of the stencils that we gave away to our grand prize winners for last week's blog hop. (By the way...we still haven't heard from one of you, so recheck the winners list and we will get your stencil packet out as soon as you contact me.)
lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com


I began by paste-embossing the frame border stencil (LJ889) with Matte Black Embossing Paste (DMBP) onto an iridescent cardstock that has a crackled appearance. Because this particular stencil is such a fine delicate design, the matte paste dried really quickly and I was able to paste-emboss the vase stencil (LG707) with the same type of paste (DMBP) after only about a 15 minute wait. 


When the black paste was dry on the vase I then repositioned the clean stencil onto the design and layered the poppy stencil (LL3023) on top of that. I taped out all the edges to keep things clean and then paste-embossed the poppy with the Crackle Embossing Paste (CEP). This particular paste does take longer to dry and develop the crackle effect.  Once the vase was dry, I repositioned both the vase and the poppy again on top of that and stenciled the poppy with pigment inks. You could use dye inks or alcohol inks instead...I tend to grab the pigment ink Splendor Circus ink pad by Tsukineko because it has twelve colors in the palette and that just makes it so convenient to use. I loved Wendy's card and of course mine is slightly different, but if you feel design challenged we want you to feel free to CASE our cards anytime here on the blogs. In fact we would feel honored.


Please join us for our monthly challenge. Again we will give away our stencils to #1 best interpretation of the challenge and #2 best usage of the Dreamweaver products. Link into Mr. Linky below and we will pop by your blog and see your creations. Or if you don't have a blog, but would like to play along email me a picture of your creation and I will post it for you on my blog. My email is lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com


If you are interested in detailed instructions on the crackle paste technique email me at the above address and I will send them to you.

Take time to see what the rest of our design team is up to by visiting their blogs today:

Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Jessie Hurley

April Challenge:Bring on the Romance...Flowers and Weddings

Hey! I LOVE it that some of you are sending me some lovely creations for our April challenge (via my email lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com) ! 

The first card is from Rose S. She used a folder for her background and then stenciled the wisteria stencil (LG725) on top of the embossed brick wall. And then... even more amazingly (I say this because it is a bit tricky to paste-emboss on top of dry embossing), she was able to use the Dreamweaver Translucent Embossing Paste (DEPT)over the stenciled wisteria. Truly lovely card Rose! Thanks for playing along.

This second card is from Joy H. and she has used the double glitter technique. The daffodil stencil (LL428) can be a bit challenging, because it has those long delicate bridges between the leaves. If you are not careful the glitter can slide under those and blur the image. Obviously Joy did not have any problems...beautiful job! When I do this technique I use a natural soap (DHHS) and rub it all over the back of the stencil to avoid damage to my stencil sticking to the adhesive paper. If you are interested in the detailed instructions email me and I will send them to you. lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com The embellishments add that final touch to this lovely card.


I have reinserted mr. linky below, so if you would like to play along just link your creation and we will stop by to say hi and leave some love in the form of comments. And don't forget if you don't have a blog but would like to play just send your picture to my email address and I will blog it for you. This month you could win two stencils the LG712 floral heart wreath and LL565 Thank You Script:

Dreamweaver/Stampendous Hop Week WINNERS!!!

 

Last week was an amazing whirlwind of creativity as Dreamweaver Stencils collaborated with the Stampendous team for a week long hop. For those of you who may have missed out on this inspirational extravaganza, you can go back to the beginning HERE. I can't begin to thank my team leader, Pam Hornschu, enough for all of her hard work arranging this for all of us, not to mention all of the super creative designers from both teams for stepping outside of their comfort zones and embracing the challenge of this hop.

The card that I am posting today features the Thank You's stencil, and covers how thankful I am for all of them, and all of YOU who hopped along with us, leaving your wonderful comments, and describing how you are now inspired to play with all of these fabulous products from both companies.

The randomly picked winners from the Dreamweaver/Stampendous Hop Week are:

Lorraine Padden

Bernie

Miriam Prantner

Congratulations to all of you! Please email us at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com with your address so your prizes can be on their way! We hope to see everyone playing along with us in future challenges, including this month's "May Flowers" challenge. You can link your creations HERE, or email them to the above email address.

Mr. Linky is Very Popular!

If you came for the April Dreamweaver Challenge,  click HERE and link your card into Mr. Linky. But be sure to come back and join this marvelous hop we are doing with the Stampendous design team!

Dreamweaver/Stampendous Blog Hop Final Day!

Get ready to be inked, pasted, encrusted, stenciled and stamped! All of this week the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team and the Stampendous Design Teams will be providing some "Dream-pendous" inspiration for you, with multiple opportunities to win some fabulous prizes from both companies. Each day this week, you will be directed from both the Stampendous Impressions' blog or the Dream It Up! blog to the players du jour for your oohing and aaahing pleasure. Everyone will be playing on Saturday, the 14th with our final hop for the week. This is your opportunity to see how to mix and mingle your creativity...if you are a stenciler, you will be fascinated at combining stamps with your first love. If you are a stamper, you will be wowed at how stencils can add to your impressions.

I have really enjoyed this week of stamping and stenciling with Stampendous. Many thanks to both teams for the wonderful creations they've posted. And to Laura Weed who is the mastermind behind the scenes at Stampendous. Special thanks to Pam Hornschu for all of the work she went to make it all go smoothly. And especially for bringing me up to date on stamping and working with the new Frantage embossing powders.

As some of you may know, I am a Hawaiian Islands fanatic...so Stampendous was kind enough to send me the new Cling Tropical Garden** which included this plumeria image. I created a corner motif by stamping with an aqua pigment ink and then sprinkling the Aged Aqua Frantage Embossing Enamel on top and heating it with a heat gun. I love how the powders they sent me have gold flecks in them as well as the main color (in this instance "aqua"). Then I paste-embossed the "islands" stencil (LG723) with the Glossy Black Embossing Paste (DGKP) and while it was still wet I sprinkled it with the same Aged Aqua powder and heated it. LOVE how it mimics the volcanoes and mountains of the islands. Makes me want to head that direction soon! It is a simple card, but sometimes those are the most effective. CAS or Clean and Simple is a technique that I want to practice more often, not just in my cardmaking, but also in other aspects of life too. 

Be sure to leave comments as you tour the blogs (with your email addy!) for a chance to win* one of three combined sets of these Dreamweaver and Stampendous goodies:

Leave me some love before you "gear up" for the next player:

 Dream It Up!
Stampendous Impressions!
Kristine Reynolds
Cherylynn Moser
Lynn Mercurio
Laura Drahozal
Pam Hornschu
Wendy Price
Liz Martin
Taylor Usry
Jessie Hurley
Krissy Fossmeyer
Cyndi Bundy
Jennifer Ingle
Georgia Sommers
Melinda Gleissner
Kristi Van Doren
Stephanie Lee
Wendy Jordan
Suzanne Czosek
Terrece Siddoway
Lee Kellogg
Janelle Stollfus
Louise Healy
Jennifer Dove
 

*For shipping and handling purposes, USA/APO/FPO/Canada winners only.

**This image will not be released on the Stampendous site for purchase until April 21st. Please check your local stamp store for availability.

Playing Along With the April Challenge?

If you came for the April Dreamweaver Challenge,  click HERE and link your card into Mr. Linky. But be sure to come back and join this marvelous hop we are doing with the Stampendous design team!

Day Five of the Dreamweaver/Stampendous Blog Hop Week

Get ready to be inked, pasted, encrusted, stenciled and stamped! All of this week the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team and the Stampendous Design Teams will be providing some "Dream-pendous" inspiration for you, with multiple opportunities to win some fabulous prizes from both companies. Each day this week, you will be directed from both the Stampendous Impressions' blog or the Dream It Up! blog to the players du jour for your oohing and aaahing pleasure. Everyone will be playing on Saturday, the 14th with our final hop for the week. This is your opportunity to see how to mix and mingle your creativity...if you are a stenciler, you will be fascinated at combining stamps with your first love. If you are a stamper, you will be wowed at how stencils can add to your impressions.

Be sure to leave comments as you tour the blogs (with your email addy!) for a chance to win* one of three combined sets of these Dreamweaver and Stampendous goodies:

Leave me some love before you "gear up" for the next player:

Stampendous Impressions!
Dream It Up!
Georgia Sommers
Wendy Price
Liz Martin
Pam Hornschu
Terrece Siddoway 

 *For shipping and handling purposes, USA/APO/FPO/Canada winners only.

Oh, Mr. Linky...Where Are You?

If you came for the April Dreamweaver Challenge,  click HERE and link your card into Mr. Linky. But be sure to come back and join this marvelous hop we are doing with the Stampendous design team!

Day Four of the Dreamweaver/Stampendous Blog Hop Week!

Get ready to be inked, pasted, encrusted, stenciled and stamped! All of this week the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team and the Stampendous Design Teams will be providing some "Dream-pendous" inspiration for you, with multiple opportunities to win some fabulous prizes from both companies. Each day this week, you will be directed from both the Stampendous Impressions' blog or the Dream It Up! blog to the players du jour for your oohing and aaahing pleasure. Everyone will be playing on Saturday, the 14th with our final hop for the week. This is your opportunity to see how to mix and mingle your creativity...if you are a stenciler, you will be fascinated at combining stamps with your first love. If you are a stamper, you will be wowed at how stencils can add to your impressions.

It is not only blog hop week with Stampendous, but for the month of April for our Thursday Dream Scheme Challenges we are showcasing flowers. So I've used this beautiful hibiscus stamp design from Stampendous in honor of both events... and if you'd like to play along scroll to the April 5 post and link your flower card to Mr. Linky or click HERE. If you don't have a blog, but would like to play along email me your creation and next week I will post it onto my blog for you: lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com 

Well, I have to confess that when our team leader, Pam Hornschu, suggested hopping with the Stampendous team...I was a bit nervous. It's been awhile since I've worked with rubber stamps, so she offered to give me a one-on-one class. (lucky me)  YAY! I passed and had a wonderful time as well. Thanks Pam!


My background was done on two different cardstocks. On the white one I stenciled the quilt leaf stencil (LX7007) with aqua pigment ink using a large 3/4 inch stencil brush and sprinkled just a tiny bit of the Aged Aqua Fran-tage Embossing Enamel down through the center of the leaves, then heated this. After cutting this finished paper in half diagonally I proceeded to stencil a piece of aqua printed cardstock with the same pigment ink and this time fully loaded the inked image with Shabby Green Fran-tage Embossing Enamel (I know ...in the picture it looks white, but it does have a few green speckles in it, so has a gray/green cast to it). Again I heated the powder and then cut this image in half diagonally. BTW...this gives you the opportunity to make two cards with the four different diagonally cut pieces.

I mounted these two diagonal pieces of paper together on an aqua card and set it aside while I stamped the hibiscus from the Cling Jumbo Tropical Garden, onto a light pink cardstock with black Staz-on ink. Because that ink dries very quickly...I needed to sprinkle the embossing powder on right away. I used the Shabby Green again. This particular powder has more of a white appearance with just a bit of a green cast to it. I'm really loving these embossing powder mixtures. They come in so many different colors and mixes. To add a more vibrant color to the flower I used a small stencil brush and gently brushed in a brighter fuchsia color of pigment ink and added yellow to the stamen and an aqua to the leaves ( I used a different brush for each color to keep the colors fresh and clean for each different area), but left some of the pink cardstock showing through. I then cut out the image and mounted it with foam tape onto my stenciled card, added a ribbon and embellishment pin for a final touch. 


Now here is a second variation on the same stamp and stencil:

This time Pam Hornschu did the background for me by stenciling the LX7007 quilt leaf stencil with versamark ink and sprinkled this wet ink with the Shabby Green Frantage powder, heated it and violá melted molten powder...then she swirled her Versamark loaded brush around the edges of this motif and sprinkled it this time with the Aged Aqua Frantage powder, heated it and there you are a stunning background.  The word "Maui" was paste-embossed with Glossy Black Embossing Paste (DGKP). The Hibiscus flower was stamped with black STaz-on ink onto a polka dot printed paper. The black ribbon and three glossy black brads were the final touch.


Be sure to leave comments as you tour the blogs (with your email addy!) for a chance to win* one of three combined sets of these Dreamweaver and Stampendous goodies:

Leave me some love before you "gear up" for the next player:

Dream It Up!
Stampendous Impressions!
Cyndi Bundy
Kristi Van Doren
Jennifer Ingle
Pam Hornschu
Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan
Jennifer Dove

*For shipping and handling purposes, USA/APO/FPO/Canada winners only.

Playing With the April Challenge?

If you came for the April Dreamweaver Challenge,  click HERE and link your card into Mr. Linky. But be sure to come back and join this marvelous hop we are doing with the Stampendous design team!

Day Three of the Dreamweaver/Stampendous Blog Hop Week

Get ready to be inked, pasted, encrusted, stenciled and stamped! All of this week the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team and the Stampendous Design Teams will be providing some "Dream-pendous" inspiration for you, with multiple opportunities to win some fabulous prizes from both companies. Each day this week, you will be directed from both the Stampendous Impressions' blog or the Dream It Up! blog to the players du jour for your oohing and aaahing pleasure. Everyone will be playing on Saturday, the 14th with our final hop for the week. This is your opportunity to see how to mix and mingle your creativity...if you are a stenciler, you will be fascinated at combining stamps with your first love. If you are a stamper, you will be wowed at how stencils can add to your impressions.

Be sure to leave comments as you tour the blogs (with your email addy!) for a chance to win* one of three combined sets of these Dreamweaver and Stampendous goodies:

Leave me some love before you "gear up" for the next player:

Stampendous Impressions!
Dream It Up!
Melinda Gleissner
Cherylynn Moser
Suzanne Czosek
Jessie Hurley
Louise Healy  

*For shipping and handling purposes, USA/APO/FPO/Canada winners only.

Looking for Mr. Linky?

If you came for the April Dreamweaver Challenge,  click HERE and link your card into Mr. Linky. But be sure to come back and join this marvelous hop we are doing with the Stampendous design team!

Day Two of the Dreamweaver/Stampendous Blog Hop Week

Get ready to be inked, pasted, encrusted, stenciled and stamped! All of this week the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team and the Stampendous Design Teams will be providing some "Dream-pendous" inspiration for you, with multiple opportunities to win some fabulous prizes from both companies. Each day this week, you will be directed from both the Stampendous Impressions' blog or the Dream It Up! blog to the players du jour for your oohing and aaahing pleasure. Everyone will be playing on Saturday, the 14th with our final hop for the week. This is your opportunity to see how to mix and mingle your creativity...if you are a stenciler, you will be fascinated at combining stamps with your first love. If you are a stamper, you will be wowed at how stencils can add to your impressions.

Be sure to leave comments as you tour the blogs (with your email addy!) for a chance to win* one of three combined sets of these Dreamweaver and Stampendous goodies:

Leave me some love before you "gear up" for the next player:

Dream It Up!
Stampendous Impressions!
Terrece Siddoway
Krissy Fossmeyer
Stephanie Lee
Cyndi Bundy
Lee Kellogg
Janelle Stollfus
Pam Hornschu 
 

*For shipping and handling purposes, USA/APO/FPO/Canada winners only.

Need Mr. Linky for the April Flowers Challenge?

If you came for the April Dreamweaver Challenge,  click HERE and link your card into Mr. Linky. But be sure to come back and join this marvelous hop we are doing with the Stampendous design team!

Welcome to the Dreamweaver/Stampendous Blog Hop Week!

Get ready to be inked, pasted, encrusted, stenciled and stamped! All of this week the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team and the Stampendous Design Teams will be providing some "Dream-pendous" inspiration for you, with multiple opportunities to win some fabulous prizes from both companies. Each day this week, you will be directed from both the Stampendous Impressions' blog or the Dream It Up! blog to the players du jour for your oohing and aaahing pleasure. Everyone will be playing on Saturday, the 14th with our final hop for the week. This is your opportunity to see how to mix and mingle your creativity...if you are a stenciler, you will be fascinated at combining stamps with your first love. If you are a stamper, you will be wowed at how stencils can add to your impressions.

Be sure to leave comments as you tour the blogs (with your email addy!) for a chance to win* one of three combined sets of these Dreamweaver and Stampendous goodies:

Leave me some love before you "gear up" for the next player:

Stampendous Impressions!
Dream It Up!
Cherylynn Moser
Lynn Mercurio
Laura Drahozal
Kristine Reynolds
Pam Hornschu
Taylor Usry 
 

*For shipping and handling purposes, USA/APO/FPO/Canada winners only.

Thursday's Dream Schemes/April Challenge-Brings May Flowers & Weddings

This month we are celebrating Spring. April showers bring May flowers and of course weddings galore! I know that we are not being really specific, but it gives you the opportunity to interpret this challenge in several different ways. Loved all of your cards this past month with the CAS (Clean and Simple) March challenge and I expect to see some of that going on this month too. Scroll to the bottom of this post to see what you could win for playing along. Again we will give away two stencils to #1 the best interpretation of the challenge and #2 best usage of Dreamweaver products.


Also next week April 9-14 we will be doing a blog with the Stampendous design team. I have gotten a sneak preview of some of the cards and they have blown me away. (We have some overachievers on the two teams...hehehe.) So be sure to hop back over here on the 9th and start hopping and leaving comments ...there will be a couple of nice prizes and leaving comments on these blog hops gives you an opportunity to win. Definitely worth the hopping you'll be doing between the two teams. Besides the cards will be really fun to see, can't wait myself. 

Now I have to admit that the post for today is a creation of Louise Healy and has been posted before on her blog. But her creation just happens to say "this is the epitome of spring" and I couldn't resist posting it again on my blog. "Thanks Louise!" 


A card like this could be used for many occasions. She dry embossed the black-eyed susan stencil (LJ902). Next she stenciled it with Brilliance inks and then after she removed the stencil she put glue in the centers of the flowers and sprinkled dark tea on them. (She had some older tea bags around and thought the tea would work on one of her creations, so she recycled it instead of tossing them...great idea Louise!) Another great tip is that since she only had white ribbon in her ribbon box she colored it with Copic markers to match her flowers. I this is a great CAS card too, don't you think?


We are going to have two prizes for the April challenge. So view them at the end of my blog. Don't forget to make the rounds and see what the rest of the team has done with this wedding and/or flower challenge. Don't forget to link up to mr. linky and play along with us. If you don't have a blog or somewhere to link up your creation, just email me a picture of your creation and I will share it for you. My email is lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Jessie Hurley




Stencils to win (not shown to scale):